Hello

Welcome to Yet Another Cooking Blog.

As you may have guessed, this is a blog about cooking - in particular my cooking. It has been mentioned to me several times that I seem a little obsessed with food, so I have decided to blog about my menus, my successes, my failures and anything else that springs to mind

Friday night was carpet picnic night with my husband and 2 year old daughter. This meant we get to relax on the carpet, eat picky food and have a bit of fun. After laying out the table cloth this is what I had come up with. This weeks carpet picnic included -

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 150 deg C/Gas mark 2
2. In a lidded casserole dish pour a little oil to coat the bottom of the dish and put on the hob until hot
3. Season the flour with salt and pepper and coat the beef cheek
4. Seal the beef cheek in the hot pan, colouring well. Take out and put onto a plate
5. Add a little more oil if required, then add the onion (and celery if using) and soften.
6. Add the garlic and continue frying until lightly browned
7. To the dish add the stock, ketchup and all of the herbs and spices, mix well and then add the beef cheek
8. Put in the oven and cook for approximately 3 hours, turning occasionally if the meat is poking out of the sauce
9. After 3 hours add the beans and put back into the oven for 15 minutes
10. After this time the meat shouhld be shreddable in the pot using 2 forks. If it isn't put back in the oven for another 15 minutes or so
11. Before serving reduce the sauce on the hob if necessary (should be thick and glossy)

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 200 deg C/gas mark 6/180 deg C fan oven
2. In an oven proof dish lay out the cauliflower florets, dress lightly with oil then sprinkle with garam masala and put in the oven for 30-40 minutes until they are cooked through
3. In a large frying pan heat some oil and put in the mustard seeds
4. When the seeds start popping add the curry leaves and onions. Cook until well browned and softened
5. Add the garlic and cook through for another 2 minutes until softened
6. Add the tomatoes, turmeric, chilli powder, cumin, coriander and salad and simmer for 5 minutes (if dry add about a cup of water). Turn off until the next stage
7. 5 minutes before the cauliflower is ready, add the tamarind concentrate and half of the water. If it looks a little thick add a little more water until you get a gravy consistency. Add the peppercorns on their vines and simmer for 5 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning as required. It should taste sour but not overly so

To serve - arrange the cauliflower, dress with the hot and sour sauce, and servie with rice or roti

Monday, 5 November 2012

This recipe is for a whole chicken cooked in a slow cooker, which gives the most beautifully tender and flavoursome meat with minimal effort.

Tools and ingredients

3.5l slow cooker

1 medium chicken (approximately 3.5lb in weight)

1 lemon - zested and then cut into quarters

Fresh or dried thyme

1 onion - cut in half with the skin left on

50 ml water

Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. In the bottom of the slow cooker crockery, put the onion and lemon so that you create a trivet for the chicken

2. Place the chicken on top, then sprinkle with the lemon zest, thyme, salt and pepper

3. Put the water in the bottom of the pan to help create a little steam, then put the lid on and set on low. Leave to cook for about 8 hours.

At the end of this time you will have a chicken that can literally be taken apart with a spoon. Be careful when taking the chicken out of the slow cooker, as it will break apart very easily. I use two large slotted spoons to do this

Serve on a bed of rocket with a warm honey and mustard vinagrette and roasted root vegetables

Sunday, 14 October 2012

Bitterballen are a delicious - if a little unhealthy - snack that is loved in the Netherlands. A deep fried crumbed ball filled with a beef or veal ragu, they are often found in take away restaurants and bars where they are often enjoyed with a beer.

The following recipe has been given to me by my Dutch sister in law Angelique

Ingredients

300 g butter

1kg beef mince

3 cups plain flour

Salt

Pepper

Nutmeg

Aromat (optional - if not available I find a good dash of worcestershire sauce works well)

2-3 tbsp tomato ketchup (optional)

2 tsp sugar

Day before:

Melt butter in a large saucepan

Fry mince until browned and separated

Add 3 cups of flour

Add enough water to make a VERY STIFF sauce, so the spoon will stay

upright when stuck in the middle of the hot sauce

Bring sauce to boil stirring continuously as it can burn quickly

Add spices to taste: salt pepper nutmegs aromat, a couple of teaspoons of sugar and ketchup if used

Cool and store in fridge overnight

The next day:On two plates put breadcrumbs and mixed raw egg

Scoop out 1 tsp of cold sauce - (Use teaspoon for scooping, keep all the balls the same size - slightly smaller than a table tennis ball is the size to aim for)

Roll with one hand through breadcrumbs then use other hand to roll through egg mixture, then roll again in breadcrumbs with your "dry" hand

Freeze on trays lined with baking paper

When frozen store in zip lock bags

To cook:

Deep fry at about 180 deg C (if you don't have a deep fat fryer or thermometer, put a wooden chopstick or spoon in the oil to the bottom of the pan. If bubbles come up from the wood, it is about the correct temperature)

Fry from frozen

Do not put too many in at once otherwise your oil will cool too much and

your bitterballen will soak up a lot of fat

Fry for approximately 4 minutes

Alternative flavours:

in stead of mince, use chicken, add curry and other spices to sauce

use fish and prawns

use sticky rice (short grain / sushi rice) with all sorts of small cut

vegetables (nassi ballen)

use mashed potatoes with cheese

As you can see, you can use your imagination, just keep to the rule that

Sunday, 16 September 2012

The recipe below isn't authentic by any means, but is a tasty sauce that is easily made in bulk and frozen. It is a long slow cooking recipe, so you will need a few hours to spare to make this. This will easily make 8 portions, more if you don't have large amounts of sauce on your pasta

Method
1. In a very large lidded pan, put some olive oil and heat to a medium heat

2. Put in the onions and stir round until they are thoroughly coated in the olive oil. Reduce the heat to low and cook for approximately 30 minutes until sweet and golden, stirring occasionally to ensure they don't stick in the pan

3. Add the celery and carrots, stir well and cook for another 30 minutes until all softened and caramelised

4. Add the garlic and cook for 10-15 minutes

5. Push the vegetable mixture to one side of the pan, turn the heat up to medium, add the mince in batches and brown. Once each batch browns, mix with the vegetables and then push to the side of the pan and add the next batch until all of the beef is in

6. Add the chopped black pudding and stir well until the black pudding breaks down and coats the mixture in 'grains'

7. Add the 200ml port and heat through to remove the majority of the alcohol

8. Add the 3 tins of tomatoes and stir well. Add the oregano, reduce the heat, put the lid on and let it simmer gently, stirring occasionally. The mix may look a little dry, but as the tomatoes break down there will be alot of liquid. The black pudding will thicken the sauce.

9. Cook on a gentle simmer for 2-3 hours until the tomatoes and the beef have broken down

Serve with pasta such as spiralli, make into a lasagne or eat with garlic bread and a salad

Saturday, 15 September 2012

I'm definitely in the love Marmite camp, and decided it was time for some new salt and pepper pots as my current ones are about 20 years old. I bought two small jars of marmite and decanted the marmite into the big jar I have that was nearly empty. After washing out the jars and lids I drilled holes using a 2mm drill bit in the lid, and then filled with salt and pepper.

Saturday, 5 May 2012

Sometimes sitting in front of the TV doing nothing can give you moments of inspiration. This morning one of the cooking channels was on showing a mexican cuisine show. I wasn't particularly paying attention to the show, but after hearing snippets talking about chilli and mole, I started thinking about the dinner I had planned to cook for the evening. This was originally ravioli with a cheese and ham filling, but I now fancied chilli. How could I bring those two dishes together? The easiest answer was to fill ravioli with chilli, which is how I came up with this dish.

For the chilli (my chilli was from the freezer having been previously made. As you need only a teaspoonful per ravioli, this is the best option)
500g stewing steak, cut into chunks
Seasoned flour
1 small onion, chopped
1 small tin baked beans (use kidney beans if you prefer, but you will need to add a little sugar)
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 1/2 tsp cumin
Chilli powder to taste (I would add 2-3 tsp plus chillis, but I like the heat. Adjust to your preference)
1 red chilli finely chopped
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1tbsp worcestershire sauce
Sunflower or other tasteless oil for cooking
Water

For the sour cream
1 small tub sour cream
Small bunch of chives, chopped

Chilli
Note - the longer this cooks, the better flavour it has. If it can be cooked the day before it is even better. I would suggest 2-3 hours cooking of the chilli

1. In a heavy bottomed pan pour a little oil and bring to a medium heat. Soften the onions and cook for about 15 minutes to allow them to start to caramelise

2. Once they have cooked, remove from the pan. Coat the stewing steak in the seasoned flour, and brown in the pan that the onions were cooked in, in batches. You may need to add extra oil. Put the meat to one side

3. In the same pan add the tomato puree and chillis, and cook the puree out for a few minutes to release the sweetness.

4. Add the meat and onions back to the pan with the chillis and puree. To this add all of the other chilli ingredients except the baked beans and enough water to cover all of the ingredients.

5. Reduce the heat to low, and leave to simmer until the meat is tender, stirring occasionally(the meat for my chilli came from a batch of meat that was cooked in a pressure cooker for two hours to make stock).

6. 15 minutes from the end of cooking, add the baked beans and adjust the seasoning as required.

7. Turn the heat up and reduce the sauce if the sauce is still thin at this stage, then put to one side until ready to use

Pasta
1. On a clean surface create a 'volcano' of flour. In the middle of the volcano put the whole egg and the egg yolk.

2. Using your fingers or a fork, stir the egg, slowly incorporating the flour. It will eventually get to the stage where it is too difficult to stir, at which point combine the ingredients with your hands, and kneed for a few minutes until the dough is smooth

3. Wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before rolling

4. When ready, use your pasta roller to roll the dough in pieces until you get thin sheets of pasta (I roll until setting 7 for ravioli). Note - this ravioli is intended to be large - I use a 3 inch ravioli cutter. Flour your pasta sheets with a little cornflour on the bottom to stop them sticking to your work surface

5. To make the ravioli - Put one sheet of pasta down and lightly press your ravioli cutter along the sheet so you know how many you will get and where the edges are

6. Place a teaspoonful of the chilli mixture into the middle of each ravioli

7. Use the extra egg white to create a glue around the edge of the ravioli

8. Put a second sheet of pasta on top of the pasta and filling, pushing down bewtween each ravioli. As you press down make sure you press out any air in the ravioli

9. Cut out the ravioli with your cutter, then make sure that all of the edges are sealed

10. when ready to cook, put the ravioli into a large pan of boiling water and cook for 4 minutes. Place on kitchen towel to soak up excess water before plating

Salsa
1. Put a dry frying pan on to a medium heat and put your 4 whole tomatoes into it. Turn occasionaly, but you are looking to get some charring onto the skin

2. After 5 minutes add your chillis and garlic still in its skin and cook for a further 10 minutes, turning occasionally

3. In a mortar and pestle, or a food processor, add the salt then squeeze the garlic out of the skin. Crush or pulse in the food processor

4. Add the other hot ingredients and break them down so that you retain some texture rather than it being smooth

5. Put this into a bowl, then add the onions, coriander and lime juice, stirring together

Sour cream (the easy bit)
1. In a bowl put the sour cream and chives and stir together

To serve -
Put 4 or 5 ravioli onto a plate, then serve with with the salsa, sour cream and a salad

Tuesday, 24 April 2012

One of my favorite things to eat is ramen noodle soup with some meat dumplings of some kind floating in it. As much as I would love to be Ramen Girl (watch the film if you haven't seen it), I have a family and a job in the UK, so learning the fine art of making ramen soup will have to wait for another day. I always have instant noodles from the asian supermarket in my cupboard, so I thought I would make my own store cupboard version. As it only takes 15 minutes, it is a quick supper, and with limited pans to wash up.

Note - this dish should take 15 minutes from beginning to end once the water has come to the boil, as that is the length of time the dumplings should take to steam

1. In a large pan add water as per the instructions on the packet of noodles (approx 500ml per packet)

2. Put the egg into the water and put the dumplings in a steamer on the top of the pan and put on the heat

3. When the water starts boiling set your timer to boil your egg for 8 minutes

4. At the end of that time take the eggs out and put into some cold water to stop them cooking

5. Note - you have 7 minutes left

6. Any vegetables you want to include should be added at the relevant point in time so that they are cooked to your preference

7. Once the eggs are out, set the timer for 3 minutes, and then add your noodles and the soup flavourings

8. When there are 2 minutes left, add your beansprouts

To serve, dish out your noodles and veg, and then pour the soup over the top. Peel your boiled egg, cut in half and rest on the top of the soup. Add your dumplings into your soup, sprinkle with the chopped spring onions and serve with chilli oil and sesame oil as condiments

This was a bit of a store cupboard dessert as a treat on a saturday night. I had recently been given a book called Gregg's favourite puddings which had a recipe for cherry clafoutis in it. The batter mix below is taken from that recipe, but I didn't have any cherries, so took another combination that I love.